Guest Authors

What is green energy? Why is it such a popular topic of conversation – and such a divisive one? And, perhaps most importantly, what is the role of green energy for us in the future, as a technology that we cannot afford to ignore?

The Green Deal UK is quickly starting to build momentum and has been said to be the biggest home improvement scheme since the Second World War. The government scheme aims to make properties more energy efficient without putting any financial strain on property owners. It seems too good to be true, right?! The Green Deal, however, has been carefully thought out and does offer a solution to the problem of properties being extremely wasteful, but property owners not being able to afford the necessary improvements to make them more environmentally friendly.

A lot of emphasis has been placed on the increasing importance of finding other reliable energy sources, but it is a fact that our current energy methods are having a severe affect on the environment. One of the sources that you have probably seen a lot of advertisements for is solar power; with many people choosing to have solar panels attached to their roofs. But is this a viable source for us all for the future?

With some details of the Government’s Green Deal still to be unveiled, The National Home Improvement Show spokesperson, Michael Holmes explains how taking sustainability and energy-efficiency into account when renovating or extending can make an immediate and significant difference to your energy bills and reduce your home’s carbon footprint.

The Green Deal is the Government’s grand plan to get us all more energy efficient, thus reducing our fuel bills and more importantly, carbon emissions. It involves taking a loan to pay for energy efficiency measures such as insulation or a new boiler which is then attached to the energy bill and repaid along with it. At first glance you may think it should be a pretty straightforward process involving you and the company installing the insulation or whatever, but you’d be wrong.

The energy crisis is something that is likely to become more and more prominent over the coming years as the UK as a whole looks to reduce its energy consumption, lower carbon emissions and work towards having renewable energy in the future.

This is an issue that is pertinent to everyone, including landlords who will be coming across more and more tenants and letting agents who want to know how green and carbon friendly their properties are!

You might think that installing something as large and life-changing as a solar panel on your home means big repercussions on your insurance premium, whether for the better or worse.

Well, there’s a balance at work: on the one hand, environmentally aware homeowners like yourself are usually less likely to claim and insurers can’t really penalise people for doing something that’s so eco-friendly and positive. On the other hand, the solar panels are both valuable in themselves and add value to your home, which means your payout might have to be larger if you were to claim.

In readiness for the launch of the much anticipated Green Deal, the Government’s flagship environmental project aimed at making up to 14 million homes more energy efficient through loans to home owners for the purchase of energy saving improvements to the properties, the Department of Energy and Climate Change is busy drafting a Code of Practice, aimed at ensuring a proper level of protection for consumers.

In today’s society, using up a great deal of energy is considered common and even expected. However, the more energy we use, the more expensive the utility bill is. Some consumers choose to save money by finding the cheapest utility supplier they can. While signing on with the cheapest utility company is a good start, this is not enough to change things if the homeowner continues to use a great deal of energy.

On 30th June 2011 a piece of legislation comes into effect that will ensure that an Energy Performance Certificate or EPC is required on Holiday Lettings. This will bring Holiday Lets into line with other properties that need an EPC, such as those currently required on sales and rental basis.